Over the last week or so there has been a ton of conversation about the South, Dylann Roof and the Confederate Flag. Just for one second, let’s take a deep breath. What was the Civil War about? Someone will usually say that the Civil War was about States Rights. Okay. That’s a half answer. The Civil War wasn’t about states’ rights to have their own Navy or trade exclusively with Africa or England. The Civil War was about a state’s right to continue slavery as they saw fit. The Confederate Flag is clearly associated with slavery. Then, after the war, the Confederate Flag was most associated with the KKK, a terrorist organization. So for me, as a Black man who grew up in the South, the Confederate Flag is associated with nothing positive. It is associated with terror and racism. Now, I fully understand that there are those Americans who see nothing but positive when they look at the Confederate Flag. They see bravery, honor and dedication to duty. We need to understand that the Confederate Flag symbolizes both. It is like that Batman character – Two Face. You can’t have one without the other. I think that removing the Confederate flag from the state capital in South Carolina is a step in the right direction. Oh, and I should add that Dylann Roof understood the meaning of the Confederate Flag. He clearly understood its link with racism. (Now, before some folks begin to seize, I don’t believe that every Southerner is a racist. On the other hand, I don’t believe that every Northerner is a saint. Look, America is a complex country. Good and evil can be found everywhere. )

ObamaCare (Affordable Care Act) has been upheld by the Supreme Court. I’m a little surprised. The following is from ScotusBlog:

That, the Court concluded by a six-to-three vote, was what Congress intended when it passed the sweeping overhaul of the health insurance market five years ago. If the subsidies are not available across the nation, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., wrote for the majority, that would bring about “the type of calamitous result that Congress plainly meant to avoid.”

Had the ruling in King v. Burwell gone the other way, to eliminate subsidies in thirty-four states, at least 6.4 million Americans likely would have almost immediately lost the insurance coverage that many of them have for the first time. And, given the way Congress wrote an interlocking law, the cascading effect of the loss of subsidies for so many probably would have collapsed the whole arrangement — a point that Roberts embraced in foreseeing the potential for a “death spiral” for the ACA.

Bobby Jindel. The GOP needs more candidates. It is like that old disco song – “More, more, more.”

Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers decided that on the 5th Anniversary of #ObamaCare (Affordable Care Act) that she would take to Facebook and ask for ObamaCare horror stories. What she got something completely different.

The Republican solution to th Afordable Care Act? Let people drown in debt, clutter our emergency rooms, and die from lack of coverage due to pre-existing conditions. No thanks, “Congresswoman”. Some of us care more about our fellow Americans than trying to bash the President. Keep trying to scare your followers with phony horror stories, though. 😉

My whole family now has coverage. The ACA is the cause for this, I work in health care, I have seen the increase in covered patients first hand. The next step is universal coverage, this will truly lower costs and provide the best care. Cathy, you barely work, spend most of your time catering to special interests so you can be re-elected.. All while receiving a large wage and the best health insurance and care. Stop telling us how it doesn’t work while enjoying your tax payer funded care and life.

My premiums have not increased, my hours have not been reduced and I know a couple of people who were able to get medical care through insurance rather than going to an emergency room. Taxes are no more difficult than they have ever been.

It’s the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Everyone likes the Patient protection part of the law. It has saved peoples lives and stopped insurance companies from dropping people and refusing to cover them. No republican plan has the patient protection part and the American consumer will not stand for a change in that aspect of the law. Instead of just criticizing the law why not work to amend the parts that need to be fixed and do so in order to serve the needs of the american public. Is it so hard to do the right thing?

It’s working fine – you and your Republican cohorts aren’t.

OBAMA care definitely works FOR me I love it.

And now my daughter, diagnosed with MS at age 22, can have insurance. What do you plan to do with her?

My story is that I once knew 7 people who couldn’t get health insurance. Now they all have it, thanks to the ACA and President Obama, and their plans are as good as the one my employer provides–and they pay less for them. Now, that’s not the kind of story you want to hear. You want to hear made-up horror stories. I don’t know anyone with one of those stories.

The GOP’s unrelenting assault on the Affordable Care Act’s website is simply wrong. It is wrong in so many ways. Do you remember 2006? The GOP have the rollout of Medicare part D. Was that perfect? Were there significant problems? Were seniors completely confused about how to sign up and what benefits were available to them? Did the GOP decide to hold hearings and condemn the website for its many failures? No of course not.

“Any time something is new, there is going to be some glitches,” Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) said on April 6, 2006. “No matter what one does in life, when it is something new in learning the ropes of it, it is going to take a little adjustment.”

Of course, I love what Republican, speaker of the house, John Boehner had to say about the similarities between the two programs – “Medicare Part D is a sound, popular program that faced some technical problems when it began,” an aide to the Speaker, who requested anonymity, said on Thursday. “The ACA is fundamentally flawed, and the problems with the website are just the tip of the iceberg.”

There are a lot of things you can say about Medicare part D, a sound, well-thought-out program, clearly not. It was simply a giveaway to the pharmaceutical companies and await a way to buy off seniors. It worked. It helped to win the 2004 election.

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Errington C. Thompson, MD

Dr. Thompson is a surgeon, scholar, full-time sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats.

A Letter to America

There are many books which have been written documenting the issues of the Bush Presidency; A Letter to America draws the reader a clearer more concise picture of major policies of this White House.